Gundam SEED Shadow: Dreams of Hope
by Titanic X
Summary: Sora is a world of advanced technology and new mysteries. Out of many nations that exist, one is the top of the world. And their Gundam Team is about to take the world by storm! Join the American Dreamers as they set out to show that they have what it takes, and perhaps save their nation from a fate worse than Death itself!
1. Into the Fray Part 1

Summary: Sora… a world possessing far more advanced technology than Earth, and wielding the weapons known as Gundam. Now one team is about to take the world by storm as they strive to show the rest of Sora that a Gundam team is not about money, glory, sex, fame, or power, but rather the dreams that people fight for and that hope for a better future can be a powerful motivator, despite what others may say! Note: I don't own Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED: Shadow. Both belong to their respective owners.

_**GUNDAM SEED**_

_**Dreams of Hope**_

_**Y**__eah, I know. Things are looking bad and then some miracle happens. Well, that's what happened with me… Wait a minute! I'm getting ahead of myself. I guess I should start from the beginning, but I won't. It would take too long, and as it stands, we're not going to have enough time. So long story short, my name's Terra White, and I'm the leader of the American Dreamers._

_Who are the American Dreamers, you ask?_

_We're one of the best Gundam Teams around. Well, we're going to be, anyway._

_We come from a country on Sora called the United States of Ameros, which is modeled after the now defunct United States of America. Our country is a democracy, one of the oldest democracies around if not _the_ oldest. We're also the most advanced, in possession of some of the most cutting-edge technology on the planet. Our armed forces are also some of the best._

_Right now, however, there's a situation going on._

_A civil war is brewing. And not between two factions of states._

_One of our states, Somera, was taken over by a man named Gregory Wolfram, a former citizen of Ameros. He's now the dictator of the Someran Empire, and he wants to expand his rule to other countries. And we can't allow that._

_The reason: our country is the only one that supports human rights and the belief that if one follows their dreams then anything can happen. That is why we are called the America of Sora._

_Currently the situation in Somera is not good, and because of a horrifying drug produced by Gregory's scientists, Ameros' soldiers can't get close without suffering incredible losses. Whatever it is, it's got the government worried, so people protested and finally got them to form a new Gundam Team: us._

_Now it's our mission to find out what's going on, and if possible, save Somera and take the world by storm!_

_American Dreamers, roll out!_

**Chapter 1: New Dreams**

_**T**__he thief grunted as he catapulted off the edge of the roof, flipping and landing on the street in the same position as a cat. He got to his feet and broke out into a run carrying his stolen goods. He sneered as he glanced down at the box in his grasp. "Heh. Way too easy," he remarked._

"_Hey! Stop, thief!" a male voice cried. He turned and his eyes widened as he spotted the police cruisers coming up in front of him._

"_I don't think so!" the man snapped. He plunged a hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a pistol, firing the shots with one hand and cradling his cargo with the other. He ran down a nearby street before ducking into a school parking lot._

_He slid behind a tree and stuffed his pistol back into his pocket before chuckling and opening the box to examine its contents. His grin only grew wider as he stared at the gleaming metallic gauntlet within._

"_With this, I'll be sure to become a Gundam Fighter!" he purred._

_He suddenly perked up, his eyes flicking over to where the cops were coming his way. "Heh. So you found me, huh? Nice try, but you won't get me a second time!" he called. He grabbed his pistol and opened up on the police cruisers, forcing the officers to fire back from the front of their vehicles._

_The thief turned and ran, discarding the box as he did so. He slipped the gauntlet on his arm and clenched his fist. He turned and ran backwards while holding his hand aloft. "Nice try, cops! But now I'm on my way to becoming a Gundam Fighter! Nothing can stop me now!" he taunted._

_He returned to his original position and grinned as he did so. Now he was sure to pull a lot more heists, and perhaps he could even show those cops a thing or two! Thoughts of this nature filled his head and clouded his mind's judgment. He didn't even bother to consider that he might be fighting others as well when he joined the ranks._

_The man kept running as he slipped into the neighborhood and vanished amongst the crowd. He sneered as he glanced back, his eyes not picking out any trace of the cops._

_The thief turned his attention to the new gauntlet he now wore. The screen stood out amongst the other buttons and functions of the device, and the metal gleamed in the sunlight. "Perfect," he remarked. "Now all I gotta do is steal one of them Gundams and I'm all set!"_

_He lowered his arm and looked around the square of the small town he was in. "Now to get out of here before the county cops come back."_

_The thief ran off towards the train station further down the street._

"_Hold it!"_

_The man suddenly stopped, his eyes looking around for the source of the voice._

"_If you're trying to steal from my hometown, then you got another thing coming, bub!" the voice snarled._

_The next thing the thief knew, a powerful figure leapt down from a tree and landed right in front of him. The man was five-foot eleven, and he was powerfully built, with bright silver eyes and jungle green hair. He had tan skin and wore a green T-shirt with the country's flag on the front and black cargo shorts. Sandals adorned his feet and on his back was a brown backpack. On his left arm was a camouflage-colored gauntlet with the same screen and buttons as the one the man was wearing._

_He stood up and hefted his own gauntlet. "Don't think that you're the only one!" he remarked._

"_Back off! Nothing's gonna stop me! Nothing, ya hear!?" the thief ranted._

_The green-haired man scoffed. "As if. You have no idea what it means, do you?"_

"_Do you?!" the thief roared._

"_Actually, I do!" the other man growled. "Now, drop the Neon Gauntlet, I'll let you off the hook. Or else!" He held up a rock in his right hand and clenched, crushing it into pebbles._

"_Hah! You think you can scare me, Coordinator?" the thief asked._

_The Coordinator snarled as he dropped the pebbles. "So, that didn't convince you, huh? Well, maybe this will!" he roared, charging at the thief._

_The younger man flipped to the side and landed on his feet, sneering as he whipped out his pistol and aimed it at the older man. "Die!" he cried._

_The Coordinator's silver eyes flashed and he crouched, leaping to the side as the thief pulled the trigger, sending bullets flying his way. He dodged the bullets and snagged a tree branch off the ground, tensing his body and throwing it like a Frisbee. The branch spun through the air and nailed the thief in the hand, causing him to drop the gun. "AH!" He clutched his injured hand and looked up, his eyes blazing. "Why you…! You'll pay for that!" he cried._

"_I don't think so!" the other man said. "Now drop the Gauntlet and I'll go easy on you!"_

_He punched his fist into his open hand as he said this. "I'm not normally one for violence, but in this case I'll make an exception!"_

_The thief could see that he was outmatched at this point. He reluctantly reached up and removed the silver gauntlet, handing it to the older man as he walked up. Once he had it in his possession, he drew back a fist and smirked. "Night!"_

_That was the last thing the thief saw before he was knocked out._

Henry Green smiled as he scanned the newspapers. The headline read _Gauntlet Thief Arrested_, and it showed a picture of the same man he helped catch a few days ago in his hometown of Hutcho. The man still had the black eye he gave him after knocking him out, and it showed in the photograph.

"So that guy tried to steal a Neon Gauntlet?" one of his friends asked.

"Yeah. The guy had a desire to become a Gundam Fighter, no doubt because he wanted to be a thief," Henry remarked with a shake of his head. He laughed a little. "It's actually quite ridiculous now that I think about it."

Hannah Wilson rolled her eyes. "I wonder what gave him that idea."

Henry just scoffed. "As if I'd know." He then folded the paper and laid it on the rec-room table. "So, what's new with you? Didn't your folks contact you for something?"

Hannah nodded as she adjusted the thick braid hanging down her back. "Yeah. My grandfather's got cancer," she said softly.

The Coordinator fell silent. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that," he murmured.

"It's all right. It was bound to happen sooner or later," she said. "He's had this tendency to get it for some time now. It's a family thing."

"Bet you're glad you got adopted, huh?" Henry remarked with a grin.

Hannah nodded slowly. "Yeah… But that still doesn't mean it won't hurt."

"I understand," Henry remarked. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "We can go visit him for a bit if you want."

"I don't know if she'll allow it. I mean, we've got a tournament coming up in just a few weeks," Hannah said as she looked out the window.

Henry frowned. "Oh, yeah. I forgot. Let's just hope that she does allow it."

The younger woman smiled. "Thanks, Henry. You're the best."

Henry smiled back. "Yeah. After all, we're friends, right?"

Both burst out laughing.

Hannah Wilson was just three years younger than Henry, and she was also a Natural, or unmodified human being, but that didn't stop her from being a useful ally in combat. She stood at five-foot-nine and had thick brown hair braided down her back, stopping just at the middle of her back. She wore a red T-shirt with a brown vest over it and blue jeans with sneakers. Her eyes were bright green and she had tan skin. On her left forearm she wore what appeared to be a knight's gauntlet with the rest of the finger covers missing, only this gauntlet had a screen and buttons on it and it was colored a misty grey.

Henry Green was her exact opposite. He stood at five-foot-eleven and he had jungle green hair with bright silver eyes, a mark of his heritage as a Coordinator. He was muscular and athletic with tan skin. He wore a T-shirt with the flag of Ameros on the front and a brown backpack was draped over his chair. He wore black cargo shorts and on his feet were sandals. On his left arm he wore the same gauntlet as Hannah, but it was camouflage colored.

"So, any news on the Bloods?" Henry asked once both calmed down.

Hannah nodded. "Yeah. They just recently entered another tournament and kicked the other teams back across the arena. Some people were even hospitalized before the matches. The government is really having a field day with this."

"Damn. Those guys are nothing but trouble," he muttered. "I sure wish we could show them a thing or two!"

"Well, you may just get that chance," a voice said.

The two turned to face the door as it slid open to reveal the speaker. Dan Kito stepped into the room and closed the door. At 24 years old, Dan was the second youngest member of the team, but with his height of six feet even and his black hair cut short, he looked older. He was fairly muscular for his age, and he had bright glacier blue eyes. He wore a black tank top with an ancient Amerosian symbol for hope on the front and he currently wore blue jean shorts. His feet were encased within heavy steel-toed boots that looked scuffed and dirty. On his left arm he wore a gauntlet as well, but his was black with a red slash mark on the side.

"Dan. I take it you have something for us?" Henry asked.

The young man nodded. "Yes. It turns out that the Bloods have been entered in the tournament we're in.

"So then that means we're gonna need to be on high alert," Hannah noted.

"Not as much as you'd think," a second voice remarked as the door to the adjoining restroom slid open. Zeke Hughs emerged, rubbing his hands on a towel. "The tournament doesn't start for a few weeks, remember?"

Zeke Hughs was only twenty-seven, yet he was one of their best hackers on the team. His red hair was tied back in a loose ponytail that went down to his waist. He had playful blue eyes that stood out, and he had tanned skin. His body was lanky in build, but he was very fit for someone of his frame type. He stood at five-foot-eleven and a half, just a half inch under Dan's height. He wore blue shorts and black sneakers, which contrasted with the sunset yellow T-shirt he wore. On the front of the shirt was the Autobot logo and on the back was the Decepticon symbol, a mark of his liking of the series _Transformers_. He too wore a gauntlet like the others, but his was a dark red color.

"What happened this time, Zeke?" Henry groaned.

"A backed-up toilet," was the Coordinator's answer. "Don't ask. Not even I know how."

"I think it might've been Dominick," Hannah replied. "He's always gotten airsick."

"Not like this," Zeke said. He tossed the towel aside into a trashcan. "Either he might be coming down with something, or someone forgot to flush before he puked."

"If that's the case, then that's gonna be out of commission for a while," Dan murmured.

"Yeah, it seems like it," Zeke said.

The door to the room slid open again and the four turned to face the doorway as two more people entered.

The first was a woman in her mid-twenties with short black hair and steel grey eyes, one of which had a scar going across it. She stood at an imposing six-foot-one and she had a muscular but athletic build. She wore a black T-shirt and green camouflage fatigues with a green trench coat that ended at her knees. Combat boots adorned her feet and she wore a fingerless glove on her right hand. A white American star stood out on her coat's left shoulder. She too wore a gauntlet, but hers was camouflage colored in urban warfare colors.

Her companion was a bit shorter at five-foot-eleven, and he had bright golden eyes with black hair tied back at the nape of the neck, going down to his middle back. He had tan skin, and he was fairly muscular, but not too much. He wore a white jacket and red T-shirt with blue jeans and red and black sneakers. He also wore a gauntlet with black, white, gold, and blue coloring.

"Terra! Akira! What're you doing here?" Hannah blurted.

"It's about the Bloods, isn't it?" Dan hissed.

"Not exactly, Dan," Terra White answered. "It's more or less about the civil war."

"Damn! Not that again!" Henry groaned. "It's been what, at least three years since it broke out?"

"Yeah. I mean, what could be so big as to be a problem within that?" Dan asked.

"Something's going on that's got the higher ups convinced it could turn south for us," Akira Nishikama replied. "We're not sure as to what it is, but Tony's got a few good ideas."

"What's he saying this time?" Hannah asked sarcastically. "That they're employing zombies or something?"

"The doc doesn't know for sure, but he thinks that there might be something wrong with the Someran soldiers' physiology," Dan replied.

"How'd you know that?" Terra asked in mild shock.

He jerked a thumb at his Neon Gauntlet. "I was there, remember?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot that he asked you to help restrain the soldier when he went cannibalistic on one of the other doctors," Henry said. "I still don't know what caused it."

"Even Tony doesn't know," Zeke remarked. "And that's saying something, considering the guy used to work in poisons and drugs for a few years before being reassigned."

Terra nodded. "Yeah. But this is still serious considering the entire situation."

Everyone somberly nodded as they recalled how this all began.

The day it all began was a normal day in the beginning, but later that afternoon, news began to filter down from the higher echelons of the United States of Ameros' government that there was a rebellion brewing in Somera, a province further north of the country. At first it was just whispers and people thought nothing of it. The news was dismissed as a mere coincidence and unrest.

Three months later, however, a bombing took place within the capitol of Somera, Jishto, and a new government was formed. The head was none other than Gregory Wolfram, a former scientist for Ameros' leading company NanoWare. The news spread rapidly and within weeks people all over Ameros learned that the rebellion was spreading across the state. In two months flat, the people of Somera were subdued and the armed forces previously stationed there were driven out and back across the Amerian Channel, the dividing channel between the mainland and the northern state.

The government began to try and figure out a way to reclaim the state, now dubbed the Someran Empire by Wolfram, but it proved to be a lot easier said than done due to the soldiers knowing the terrain and due to their fighting style. The Someran Empire began to create a navy and army, but due to the limited resources, this led to very few ships and a ton of failures. The only thing they were able to create effectively were Gundams.

So it became a stalemate. Ameros couldn't attack for fear of losing their mineral assets in the new country, and Somera gained the advantage to try and blackmail them. But that didn't stop the government from trying to gain a few tricks to counter this.

The Ameros President, Lianne Wilkson, tried to negotiate with Wolfram, but he turned her down. Still, she kept at it in an attempt to stall for time while the Ameros Navy mounted an invasion fleet under cover of darkness and clouds. The negotiations went on for three weeks before they broke down and the naval fleet launched its attack.

What happened could only be described as a massacre of both sides. The gunfights that followed led to three ships sunk and fifteen badly damaged with another fifty in varying states of damage. The Somerans, however, lost three hundred dead and fifteen hundred wounded with another two thousand missing. The casualties were high on both sides, but not as costly as it could have been.

The next attempt involved sending a small SEAL team ashore, only for half of them to be murdered in their sleep and their bodies missing. One managed to get back from an unknown location with half his leg missing and his left eye gouged out. He was so terrified that he refused to speak to anyone save his superior, and even then it was hard to get the information out of him.

The words he uttered horrified her and the report was sent directly to the President when she submitted it to her divisional commander. The President, after reading the report, established a committee to try and verify this, which led to further research and study on captured Someran soldiers.

The results were horrifying to say the least.

But now they had an idea of what to expect.

Less than three weeks later, Somera tried to launch an invasion of another nation off to their right side, but Ameros, allied with the nation of Gunthers, sent troops to the border and helped the Guntherians fight them off. The two allies succeeded in driving them back with very few losses, mostly due to the Ameros Air Force. Wolfram, now the Emperor, declared war the following day.

Ameros responded in kind with a particle missile barrage from several of their vessels.

The particle missiles devastated one of the cities, but this was just his answer to ten long years of planning and scheming.

The war had begun.

Henry shifted as he returned to the present from his journey down memory lane. "I still don't get why that guy had to go and kill the governor of Somera. I mean, couldn't he just defect and create his own nation?"

"I don't think he wanted to do just that," Dan admitted. "My father worked with him once and he said that Wolfram was a bit nutty, especially after the Nano Wars."

"Don't even remind me!" Hannah grumbled. "One of my cousins was in that. And she nearly died because of it!"

"Hey. Just be glad that our defense forces found the answer to that one," Zeke said.

"I know," Hannah said. "I am. I just don't want to recall it because she was right there in the city when it broke out."

"Those terrorists were nuts if they thought they could weaponize nanobots," Akira muttered.

"Tell me about it. We just got lucky that we were able to reverse it," Terra said.

The five nodded.

* * *

And so ends the first chapter. Sorry if it's so short. Next one will be longer. Enjoy!


	2. Into the Fray Part 2

Summary: Sora… a world possessing far more advanced technology than Earth, and wielding the weapons known as Gundam. Now one team is about to take the world by storm as they strive to show the rest of Sora that a Gundam team is not about money, glory, sex, fame, or power, but rather the dreams that people fight for and that hope for a better future can be a powerful motivator, despite what others may say! Note: I don't own Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED: Shadow. Both belong to their respective owners.

_**GUNDAM SEED**_

_**Dreams of Hope**_

**Chapter 2**

"_**S**__o, what can you tell us about the upcoming tournament, Sam?_" a female reporter asked. The man she was with shrugged.

"_Well, Debra, the tournament is going to be one of the bigger ones, especially considering the civil war going on,_" Sam Winstone replied. "_This will provide people with a change of pace. Not to mention it'll give them a chance to see our new Gundam Team._"

Debra Glaaze smiled. "_I see. And just who is your Gundam Team?_" she asked.

Sam just flashed a mysterious grin. "_You'll have to wait until the tournament to find out. I can't give anything away that could risk exposing the tournament to people prematurely._"

Henry grunted and hit the remote, shutting off the TV. "Yeah, right. They just don't want people to know what we're capable of," he muttered.

He turned and left the rec room, heading throughout the hallways and passing by the crew until he reached the bridge. He held out his Neon Gauntlet and the scanner mounted on the side of the door picked up the ID chip within. The door unlocked slid open. Henry lowered his arm and stepped onto the bridge of the team's ship, the _American Hope_.

He eyed a schematic of the ship currently displayed on one of the main monitors, reflecting on its design with pride.

The vessel was 557 meters long and 125 meters wide, crewed by 275 personnel, six of which were Gundam pilots. The ship was shaped like the _Minerva_-class ship from Earth, but its colors were radically different. Rather than red and black, the paint job was bright white with silver accents. Golden-blue power lines went down the sides of the armor. Within the core of the ship was the S-Generator, standard power core for anything related to Gundams and Gundam Fights in general.

"Hey, Terra!" he called.

The commander of the team turned and spotted Henry. "Henry! What's going on?" she asked, walking over, giving a few technicians on the bridge a wave as she left the group.

"Oh, nothing really. Just some stuff on the news about the Gundam Fight tournament coming up in a few weeks," he remarked.

"I bet," Terra scoffed. "I don't really like it myself, but, hey. Someone's got to try and keep an eye out for those Bloods."

"Hey. Good luck with that!" a Coordinator by the name of Mike Jonson grumbled. "Those guys are the slipperiest crooks I've ever seen!"

"Yeah. No one's been able to really track 'em down…'cept maybe for our boys," a Natural from the more southern country responded.

"Hector, you really have a point there," Mike remarked as he turned from running a scan on the ship's power supply. Hector Sikosovich grunted once.

"Mike, have you picked up anything in regards to the Bloods' whereabouts on the airwaves?" Terra asked him.

The wannabe radio jockey turned and flicked through several screens on the monitor. "Nah. Got nothing," he said after a few seconds. "No mention of them anywh—" His voice suddenly trailed off as he suddenly placed his headset on his head and tapped the side.

"Hold it. I got something," he said.

"Really?" Henry ran over. "What?"

Mike held up a hand as he furrowed his brow in concentration. His eyes slipped closed and he let himself go as he drifted into the airwaves.

He was silent for a few minutes before his eyes snapped open and he ripped his headset off, letting it fall around his neck. He turned to face Terra. "There was a mention of a scuffle not too far from where we are," he said. "The radio guy said that the Bloods are involved."

Terra nodded. "All right." She turned to face one of the other crew members on the bridge. "Heidi, gather up the rest of the crew and we'll leave."

Heidi Jackson nodded. "Yes, ma'am!" She turned and ran out of the bridge.

The message was spread throughout the ship while Heidi scouted out the crew that left for a bit of shore leave. While it was uncommon for Gundam Teams to allow their crews to take shore leave, it did happen. It was just a hassle in rounding up the crew that did go out.

Yet Heidi knew where they were.

It was mandatory for all Ameros Defense Force members to have an ID chip planted within their forearm or on the back of their hand so they could be ID'd if any of them were ever killed in combat. It also acted as a tracker so separated soldiers could rejoin with their units and units being regrouped if they got separated during bad weather or in the confusion of battle. A downside to this was the possibility of the chips being hacked, but Ameros policy indicated that all chips had to be heavily encrypted using state-of-the-art encryption techniques that were decades ahead of even Myrtus.

Heidi checked the scanner on her comm unit and smiled as she spotted three blips located near the pub. She turned and headed in.

The pub was full of Gundam Fighters, soldiers, and even dockworkers. She scanned the crowd, picking out the neon hair of Frederick Stone, the scarred right eye of Bill Hawkins, and the cybernetic eyes of Lola Hilde.

"Hey! Fred! Lola! Bill!" Heidi called.

The Coordinator and the two Naturals didn't even hear her. Grumbling to herself, Heidi made her way in and through the crowd.

As she moved closer, one of the Gundam Fighters stood up and drunkenly headed in her direction. She could smell the liquor on his breath and she instantly knew he was going to make a move on her, having had this experience once before.

"Hey, hun… Whaddya ssay I show you something speshal,?" he slurred.

"Back off! I'm not interested!" she said.

"What's the matter, sweetcheeks? Do't yoy wwant to know what a real man is like?" the man purred.

"Hey! I said back off!" Heidi growled. She drew back her fist and punched, hitting the man right in the cheek. He staggered back, his balance thrown off by the alcohol within his system. He collapsed onto the ground with a loud _thud_, his head cracking on a table and causing him to black out.

One of the other tables emptied as the occupants got to their feet. "Hey! What's the big idea dissing our comrade like that, huh?" one of the men asked. His Neon Gauntlet flashed as he clenched his fists.

"Your buddy just tried to make a move on me!" Heidi growled. "So if you know what's good for you, you'll get him out of my sight or else!"

"Or else what? What can one woman do against us?" a second man hissed. His eyes flashed angrily as he got into a fighting stance.

"Bring it, tubby!" Heidi shouted.

"Tubby?! Why you little… I'll show you who's tubby!" the man snarled.

He thrust his hand out in a punch, but Heidi dodged and lashed out in a roundhouse hitting the man in the chest and forcing him back. He didn't even flinch from the blow, but he sure was pissed.

She gulped. '_Okay…maybe tangling with these guys wasn't such a great idea!_' she thought to herself.

The thought caught the attention of the sole Newtype of the trio, Bill. His head perked up, his attention diverted from the cards he was holding in his hand. "Oh boy… Here we go again," he grumbled as he set down his cards. He stood up and pushed his seat out, turning to the others as he did so. "It looks like Heidi got into some trouble again," he said to them.

Fred grunted as he slapped his cards down. "Bah. I don't think I was gonna win this round anyway," he said as he too stood up.

Lola laid her cards down and stood up, her cybernetic eyes spotting the scuffle through the crowd. "I think I can see why," she said, pointing.

Bill flicked his eyes over and his face paled. "Oh, hell no!" he moaned. "She just had to pick a fight with a Gundam Team?"

"It appears so," Fred remarked. "And I think that I'm gonna need to be the one to end this." He cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "After all, it has been a while since I got into a bar fight."

The trio ran through the crowd already gathering at the spot where the fight was going on. By now the crowd was thick enough that they had to force their way through just to reach the fighters.

Lola yelped as a broken booze bottle went sailing over her head and crashed against a wall, sending glass shards everywhere. "Ah!"

"Okay. Now this is getting old!" she grumbled. "Three bar fights in one week? Why did we even have to stop at this dump!?"

"You'd better take cover," Bill warned her. "Fred's about to go KSA on them!"

Lola turned and watched as Fred stepped into the circle, his hands clenched into fists. "Hey, bozo!"

The insult struck the Gundam Fighter before he turned to face the cyan-haired man. "What the fuck do you want?" he hissed.

Fred cracked his neck. "You leave her alone…or else!" He suddenly thrust his hand to the side, firing off a blue-greenish blast of energy that hit the wall. A few patrons shrieked as the debris went in their direction.

"Why should we?" the second of the trio asked.

"Yeah, punk?" the third hissed.

"Do you three really want to face a KSA user?" Fred asked with a smirk.

"Damn right we will!" the first man snarled. "This bitch just dissed Ran over there!"

"He tried to make a move on me!" Heidi snapped.

"Oh, is that why? Then maybe you should've taken him up on the offer," the man leered.

The blast of energy hit him dead in the nose. The sound of breaking cartilage resonated in the bar and the man fell back, howling in pain as he clutched his broken nose.

"Tuck!" the second man cried.

"Forget him, Bones. He's down," the third man said to Bones.

Bones grunted. "Fine, Scythe. We'll get him together!"

Scythe grinned as he got into a fighting stance. "Let's go!"

"Bring it!" Fred cried.

Bones snatched up a chair and broke off one of the legs, holding it like a club. Scythe grabbed a booze bottle and broke it on one of the tables, holding it like a knife. Then they charged.

Fred ducked a swing from the makeshift club and spun, his fingers and hands glowing with energy as he threw up a barrier to deflect the jagged end of the bottle wielded by Scythe. The bottle's sharp ends shattered as Scythe threw it aside and started throwing glasses and glass shards at him. Bones tried creeping around the Coordinator from behind, but Fred sensed the movement and whipped his body around, keeping the barrier up with one hand and firing a blast of kinetic energy from his outstretched right hand. The blast shattered the chair leg with ease.

"Damn you!" Bones cried. He grabbed a piece of metal and lobbed it like a javelin at Fred's chest. He only moved the hand with the barrier in front and the pipe bounced off, sticking in the wall.

"Is that all?" Fred asked.

"Hardly!" Scythe grunted.

Fred turned and was caught off guard as a blast of purplish kinetic energy struck him in the shoulder. He grunted and staggered back. "So, you're also a KSA user…" he whispered.

"Yeah? So?" Scythe sneered. "Is that a surprise?"

"Not really," Fred remarked as he dodged a blow from Bones.

"Scythe, just get the git already!" Bones roared.

Fred's eyes narrowed. "I don't think so!" he hissed.

The three fought it out as other patrons began to cheer and make bets on who would win. Some were even guessing that the double team of Bones and Scythe would do Fred in, but by the time it was nearing the halfway mark, it became clear to even the doubters that the other KSA user was holding his own against the two.

Fred was able to duck a KSA swipe from Scythe and he lashed out in a punch, his fist glowing with greenish-blue energy as the blow connected solidly with Bones' chest. He was careful to pull the punch at the last moment, resulting in the blow only knocking the wind from his lungs. He collapsed onto his back, chest heaving as he struggled to get air into his lungs.

As Scythe looked over to check on his partner, Fred took the chance to strike and end the fight. He spun and nailed the other KSA user on the back of the neck, sending him into unconsciousness. Once he was out, he draped both Gundam Fighters over their seats and knocked the third one out before doing the same to his other comrade.

He turned to face Heidi just as Bill and Lola came up. "You okay?" he asked.

Heidi nodded. "Yeah. We're gonna be moving out shortly, so Terra ordered me to round everyone else up," she explained.

Bill shrugged. "Oh well. At least we got some shore leave in."

The four left the bar and headed deeper into town, hunting down and ferreting out their crew. On the way back, they encountered Brian Higgins, the crew's engineering chief, and of course, he was intoxicated, so it fell to Bill to escort him back this time.

"You know, I still don't understand why we had to have him assigned to our team," Bill grumbled.

"Hey. He may get drunk a lot, but he knows his way around an engine better than most of us, whether his drunk or sober," Heidi pointed out.

Bill groaned. "Oh boy…"

"All right. Everyone's here, so let's go," Terra said.

"Right!" the entire crew said as one.

Terra turned to face Brian. "Hey, Brian. You sure you can operate the engines?" she asked.

The Natural grunted once before taking a swig of vodkos. "Yeah, sure. I can do it," he remarked with a slight slur to his words. He got to his feet and headed to the door, his steps slightly staggered. He left the bridge a few minutes later, the door hissing shut behind him.

It still amazed Terra that the man could hold down so much vodkos and still be able to operate the engines even in a drunken state. She guessed it had to do with his past record in the military. She chuckled a little and shook her head before she turned to face the helmsman.

"She's all yours, Jackson," she said.

Jackson Roberts smiled and flashed the thumbs up. "You got it, ma'am!" he remarked. He turned and grasped the controls of the ship, hitting the keypad and inputting the code for starting it up. The ignition code flashed across one of the monitors at the helm and within seconds all functions on the console began to flash online. A schematic of the _American Hope_ flashed across one of the smaller screens as it showed the main power core's energy spreading out throughout the vessel.

"All systems are in the green, Commander!" Jackson reported.

Terra nodded. "Good." She turned to face the communications station.

Mike flashed the thumbs up. "All communications are functional," he replied.

She turned to look at the weapons station where the chief gunner, Andrew Harkins, sat. Andrew turned and grinned. "All weapons are hot!" he said.

The commander looked over at the radar station. The radar operator, Akan Loos, smiled. "Our radar is at maximum efficiency," he replied.

A quick glance to the shield station confirmed that Justin Holt was working on checking the shields. A few minutes of fiddling later and he flashed the thumbs up. "We're good!" he cried.

The engineering station was last. She glanced at the monitor where Theresa Wong sat. She double-checked the readouts and looked up. "All engine systems are functional!" she called.

"All right." Terra turned back to face the helm. "Jackson, take her out!"

Jackson gripped the controls and gently eased them forward. The thrusters on back of the ship flared into action, generating blue-golden flames that lifted them out of the dock and into the air. The wings unfolded and within minutes, the _American Hope_ was airborne.

The door to the bridge slid open half an hour later and Brian came staggering in. "Engines are functional, ma'am," he said as he flopped down into one of the chairs at his station. He slipped the vodkos bottle into its cup holder and promptly fell asleep afterwards. Snoring filled the bridge seconds later.

"I still can't get over how quickly he falls asleep after drinking that stuff," Theresa grumbled with a shake of the head.

"Enough, Theresa. We've got a lead on the Bloods, remember?" Terra remarked.

"Oh. Right. Sorry," the Natural said sheepishly. She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Terra turned to face Mike. "Any new word on them?" she asked.

Mike dialed in the frequency he used prior to pick up the lead. He closed his eyes and listened for a few seconds. "Yeah. There is. Apparently they've just robbed a bank in Futros," he said.

"Helm, set course for Futros," Terra ordered.

"Aye!" Jackson tapped in the command and the ship began to bank to the right as he activated the maneuvering jets on the outside of the ship's hull for quicker turns.

Terra nodded. "Good."

She turned to face the other technicians and personnel on board. "Anyone who gets any word on the Bloods' next move report it directly to me. This time, we're not letting them out of our sight!" she ordered.

"You got it!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Roger!"

"Aye, aye!"

Satisfied, Terra turned and walked out of the bridge, her trench coat billowing out behind her.

* * *

LOCATION: FUTROS

DAHYOU NATIONAL BANK

The outside of the bank was a mess as police cars and officers gathered in front of the huge double doors, blown open by an explosive. The police chief of Futros narrowed his eyes as he held up his microphone. "All right! If you don't come up with your hands up, we will come in there after you!"

Again, no response.

Chief Davin Vlados didn't like this one bit. It was almost three hours into the standoff and no one was even responding. Something didn't sit right with him at this point. It was almost like they were expecting him to come in there.

He turned to face one of the other officers with him. "Scott, any sign of life in there?"

Scott Hankerson nodded. "Hell yeah, boss. They're still in there. It seems to me like they're arguing with someone in there still."

"Then why haven't they responded?" Vlados asked himself.

"Judging by those sacks of dough, I think they're trying to get as much greenery out of this heist as possible," Scott remarked in his usual Western drawl.

"How many sacks of money?" the chief asked.

Scott narrowed his eyes as he peered through the binoculars held to his eyes. "I count at least ten from what I can see, but there may be more. Who knows?"

"I see…" Vlados turned to face the lieutenant on the radio. "Sue, how's it coming? Did you get in touch with anyone?"

Sue Wanson's eyes narrowed as she chatted a bit longer in her native tongue. She held up a hand to wait. A few minutes later and she turned to face him. "Yes, sir. I got in touch with a few friends of mine and they said that the Dreamers are heading this way."

Vlados' eyes widened briefly. "The American Dreamers?"

She nodded. "Yes. They're coming, sir."

The chief smiled. "That's excellent. They've been after them for some time now, I hear?"

Sue's expression was ecstatic. "You bet, sir. The latest word among the people is that they've been doing some illegal activities regarding their Gundams, such as illegal modifications, and even tampering with the Gundams of their opponents. The American Dreamers got wind of this, but they can't prove it until the tournament in a few weeks."

"Well, if they're behind bars, then they won't be able to participate," Vlados remarked with a smirk.

"I sure hope this works, though," Sue murmured. "This is no ordinary Gundam Team. They're slipperier than a scorpeel."

"Sue's right, boss. The last time anyone tried to catch them, the Bloods eluded them for weeks and no one saw them until they turned up in Gunthers before they were chased back across the border," Scott chirped from his position lying on top of the squad car.

Vlados rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me on that one," he grumbled.

A loud scream suddenly ripped across the plaza, followed seconds later by a loud explosion as a grenade cluster went off. Flames erupted out the shattered doors and the windows on the ground floor exploded outward due to the force of the explosive.

"Shit!" Vlados ducked as a few shards of glass sailed over his head. "This is getting worse now!" he remarked.

The chief poked his head up over the door just as one of the team members walked over to the door. "Any of you law types come in here and we'll make sure this entire place goes sky high…unless our demands are met!" the man shouted.

"What kind of demands?" a woman shouted from her squad car.

"We want at least ten million dollars and an escape copter!" the man yelled. "And we want it now!"

"We need to stall for time, sir," Sue said softly. "At least until the American Dreamers get here."

Vlados nodded. "Right."

He turned and stood up, raising his megaphone to his mouth. "We can't just hand over ten million dollars," he called. "But maybe we can work out a deal."

"Sorry, lawman, no deal!" the man shouted. Then a sneer crept across his face. "Unless you'd like to see one of the workers here get blown up by a grenade!"

"This is not going to help! Just release the hostages and we'll hand over three million dollars and a helicopter," Vlados shouted.

"Ten million or she goes!" the man roared.

"Five million, a helicopter, and bulletproof vests!" the woman called. "That is our final offer!"

"No!" the man yelled.

"Damn! This isn't getting anywhere!" Vlados growled. He glanced up at the sky worriedly as the sun began to set.

"C'mon…where are you?" he murmured softly.

* * *

Alright, my peeps! Here's chapter 2. Terra and her friends head out to intercept and go after the Bloods, a Gundam Team managed and run by a gang known as the Tyke Devils. They get a lead and head over to Futros to help in stopping a bank robbery in progress. But the robbers are getting a little more than just money...

Let me know what you think!


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